“Let’s Slogo!”: The official competition for a logo and slogan for the European Year of Volunteering 2011 launched

Unleash your creativity! The European Commission has entrusted civil society organisations to run the competition to choose the official logo and slogan for the upcoming European Year of Volunteering 2011. The Alliance has launched the “Let’s Slogo!” competition on www.eyv2011.eu to call for proposals for logos and slogans. Proposals for logos and slogans can be sent between 17 August until 18 September 2009 through the above mentioned website. This is the first time citizens can shape the visual identity of a European opportunity to be seized by participating in the competition.

June 2009

2009 European Election Manifesto: Do you ENGAGE for those who ENGAGE?

The European Parliament elections are approaching: on June 7, 2009, Romanians will delegate their representatives in the only elected institution of the European Union. Volunteering centres in EU member countries intend to use this opportunity for raising awareness of future members of the European parliament on the importance of volunteers in each country and in Europe as a whole. The year 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering – ten years after the International Year of Volunteering, which marked the beginning of the volunteering movement in Romania. In 2011 the role of Romanian Members of the European Parliament will be very important for supporting the development of volunteering in Romania and for attracting the contribution of national authorities in supporting the volunteering movement in our country. The European Volunteer Centre (CEV), the umbrella organisation of European volunteering centres, drafted the 2009 European Election Manifesto, which launches the question “Do you engage for those who engage?” to the candidates. Pro Vobis – the National Volunteering Centre, member of CEV, invites all those interested in the development of volunteering to spread the Romanian version of the manifesto, in order to reach as many European Parliament candidates as possible. Please download the manifesto here.

July 2009

“The Volunteering Law – Present and Perspectives” consultation campaign (May 11 – July 31, 2009)

Today, May 11, 2009 marks the beginning of the eight edition of the National Volunteer Week (Saptamana Nationala a Voluntariatului – SNV), an annual event that aims to mobilize as many volunteers as possible, together with organisations and institutions that work with volunteers in public volunteer actions, volunteering promoting events and the recognition of volunteer work for the benefit of the community. Today's event marks the debut of the public consultation campaign “The Volunteering Law – Present and Perspectives” initiated by Pro Vobis – the National Volunteering Centre in partnership with the National Network of Volunteer Centers within the “2009 National Volunteer Week” project, financed by the Youth in Action programme, which is managed in Romania by ANPCDEFP. The consultation campaign includes a series of round table discussions organised by the Romanian volunteer centres and dedicated to debating the Volunteering Law (195/2001 with subsequent alterations and additions) for the purpose of gathering observations and suggestions from volunteers, organisations and institutions whose activity is affected by this law. The round table discussion schedule is available here. The consultation campaign will continue until July 31, 2009. The suggestions and observations received will be synthesised according to themes and will be included in a complex document that will be subject to public debate starting September! We kindly invite all interested in the Volunteering Law to write to us about the problems they are facing and come up with suggestions for changing the current law, or with proposals regarding the volunteering activity in Romania, at the address pr@provobis.ro until July 31, 2009. Express yourself through action! Become a Volunteer! Assert your opinion on the Volunteering Law!

April 2009

Romania now sends professionals as volunteers for development in Africa and Asia!

The first stable program aimed at recruiting Romanian professionals for volunteer positions in disadvantaged countries from Africa and Asia marks the departure of its first volunteer from Romania: Cristina Gaspar – an experienced rural assistance project coordinator from the city of Timisoara, Romania, is the first Romanian professional to be placed overseas as a VSO volunteer. She departed for India, where she will assist a rural development NGO from Orissa to develop and implement a monitoring and evaluation system for its programs. Cristina's enrollment as an international volunteer was possible through a recent partnership agreement between VSO UK and Pro Vobis, the National Volunteer Center of Romania. Initiated in the summer of 2008 and after going through an initial pilot stage for several months, the recruitment of Romanian volunteers is now gradually picking up steam and getting more streamlined, resulting in the mobilisation of Romanian professionals from fields like business & management, social development, health and IT. Find out more from the press release (Romanian) or from the project's website at www.voluntariat.ro/vso . If you would like to support Cristina's volunteering work and VSO's cause you can donate here.

March 2009

"The Institutional development of organisations working with volunteers" - selection results

Following the public call launched by Pro Vobis within the project "The institutional development of organisations working with volunteers", financially supported through PHARE 2006, between February 3rd and 18th a number of 35 organisations submitted their applications for receiving assistance as proposed in the project. After the evaluation of the application documents, Pro Vobis selected 19 organisations and 1 public institution which will receive assistance regarding their volunteer involvement policies and practices. The selected organisations are: Asociaţia ACCEPT, Hospice „Casa Speranţei”, Asociaţia Hercules, Fundaţia „Pentru Voi”, Fundaţia Baylor  - Marea Neagră, Fundaţia Dezvoltarea Popoarelor, Asociaţia Română Anti-SIDA, Fundaţia Noi Orizonturi, Fundaţia Principesa Margareta a României, Habitat for Humanity România, ONG Mare Nostrum, Organizaţia Naţională Cercetaşii României, Organizaţia Salvaţi Copiii, Fundaţia ECOTOP, Direcţia Generală de Asistenţă Socială şi Protecţia Copilului Galaţi, Asociaţia pentru Dezvoltarea Societăţii Civile, Asociaţia Ecouri Verzi, Asociaţia Pro Democraţia – Filiala Cluj, Fundaţia Estuar, Fundaţia Raţiu pentru Democraţie. The following steps of the project are a need-analysis, an initial visit of the consultants alotted to each organisation in order to facilitate a strategic planning session for involving volunteers in the organisation, and an extended training session for the volunteer coordinators of these organisations. The objective of this project is to develop the beneficiary organisations' capacity to work with volunteers in a planned, efficient and professional manner. Contact person Cristina Rigman (Project Coordinator), provobis@provobis.ro .

February 2009